Nigerians count losses in Apapa road closure

Nigerians count losses in Apapa road closure

…Over N30bn lost daily

the Apapa business community including transporters, Federal and Lagos state government officials have continued to count their losses following the closure of ports roads leading into Apapa Wharf, the main gateway into the Nigerian economy.

The shock to the business community especially commuters and transporters came as the Federal Government failed to do a contingency planning that would have eased their agony as it did during the Abuja Airport runway rehabilitation works when all Federal Capital Territory bound traffic were directed to Kaduna airport.

Going by the estimates of income flowing from the Apapa Port complex and Tin Can Island ports, Nigeria earns about N30billion daily from its ports operations in the maritime zone, with over N28billion coming from Apapa Ports alone and another N1billion from Tin Can Island. A conservative estimate puts this reveue at N780 billion.

This is outside the incomes generated from over 15 bank branches in the area as well as other support services in the zone alongside the thousands of employees earning living in the Apapa axis.

But the closure of the arterial roads which came after the Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Mr Babatunde Fashola, on June 17, 2017, signed a N4.34 billion Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Dangote Group and the Flour Mills of Nigeria for the reconstruction of Apapa Wharf Roads seems to have worsened the dilemma of commuters, transporters and entreprenuers into the nation’s premier ports complex a nightmare for commuters and motorists.

At first when news of the multimillion naira project was broken, maritime stakeholders had indeed heaved a sigh of relief perhaps oblivious of the pains and anguish that lay ahead of them as a result of the closure.

Although available timelines on the project, show the repair might linger for about a year, its effect on business have been so devastating that most of the businesses are already relocating out of Apapa, while others are now gasping for breath expected to last for a minimum one year residence in the axis.

 According to the terms of the MoU, the project would be funded  by  AG Dangote Construction Company Limited, an arm of the Dangote Group, the Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA) and Flour Mills of Nigeria at the cost of N4.3 billion.

The road which is expected to ease the gridlock hitherto experienced by road-users has now become a nightmare for residents, workers, agents and truckers on that road that people dread to fix events in Apapa axis thus making ease of doing business in the area almost unachievable.

 While signing the agreement, Fashola explained that the gridlock in Apapa became compounded and had reached an unbearable level as transporters ignored the old system of moving cargo through rail to trucks and containers. He said that the choice of the transporters to use road instead of rail for haulage increased gridlock, caused degeneration as well as well as hardship to residents of Apapa. The minister commended the “leadership role’’ of the stakeholders to solve the complex problems in Apapa and its environs.

 According to him, the situation has caused stress to residents, business owners and other stakeholders in the state. “As a result of all these unsavoury practices, we have reached a point of near total gridlock, it is difficult to move cargo in or out, difficult for residents to get home and this must stop,’’ he said.

 Fashola said that it took time to reach an agreement on the project because the stakeholders were putting up an effective design that would address the drainage problem because the area was water logged. “We have finished with the design, we now have a Bill of Quantity and the cost of the road is N4.34 billion to be funded and paid for by these three groups, Flour Mills of Nigeria, AG Dangote Construction Company Limited and Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA),’’ he said.

 However, since the reconstruction began on two weeks ago, commuters, residents, maritime stakeholders, bank workers as well as ancillary workers are having a harrowing experience following the closure.

The closure affected the  two major arteries  that lead into and out of Apapa. That is the Apapa-Oshodi Expressway and the Ijora Wharf Road.

Following the closure, most workers now resume work by 10 am or 11 am instead of the their normal official resumption time of 7 am or 8 am.

The result is that man-hours are lost and the nation is losing huge sums of revenue.

According to Aliko Dangote, Nigeria was losing N140 billion on weekly basis on the gridlock. With the complete closure on the road which has inflicted more pains and anguish on the truckers and maritime workers, the loss would be more.

Already, maritime experts have argued that the government should not opted for total closure. Rather the government would have applied the method used in the aviation industry when the Abuja Runway was closed.

According to  Apapa  road users,  the closure of that road for one year is a pretty long time for users.

“I think that is what should have been done because shutting down the road for one year is a very long time. We have rail connection in Apapa. I would have thought that Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC),  National Inland Waterways Authority (NIWA) and the Lagos State Waterways Agency would have been brought to the table to first discuss a palliative measure;  to discuss an alternative mode of evacuating cargo in and out of Apapa before the closure. That is what I would have expected government to do. Remember when Abuja Runway was shut down, it wasn’t just a FAAN affair. All the logistics providers were brought together to look for how to alleviate the sufferings of the people. That is what should have been done here. For instance, we should have made arrangement with NRC to deploy wagons so that petroleum products and containers could be taken away by rail pending the course of the repair work. And I am sure somehow, NRC would have looked for a way to be able to take some cargoes out of the Apapa area by rail. They don’t have to take all of it. But they would have been able to increase their capacity take cargo out of the area. So, I think it is not too late for the government to  look into that, strengthening railway to immediately assist by evacuating cargo from the ports from Apapa by rail so that we have less trucks on the road. Both petroleum products and containers can be evacuated  by rail. So, we have no excuse not to use that. The same way people were moving by train from Abuja to Kaduna. The same thing should have been done here: he said.

Th spokesman of Seaport Terminal Operators Association of Nigeria (STOAN), Mr Bolaji Akinola also suggested that Nigerian Inland Waterways  Authority (NIWA) should have equally come in to assist in the movement of people in and out of Apapa 

“There is need to involve NIWA. NIWA is responsible for  helping us to use the waterways properly and the waterways in Lagos are clear. We should have able to take containers and petroleum products—–those are the dominant products in Apapa—-by barges  out of Apapa through the waterfront to areas like Ikorodu, Ondo, Olokola even to the east. Onitsha Port is there for those cargoes that are going that way. It is not difficult. It is not rocket science. The waterways are there. We can acquire those barges so that we don’t have this deluge of trucks descending on Apapa causing the gridlock that we have. With Lagos State ferry service and of course with NIWA, arrangement could have been made for ferries. They should  create a clear way for ferries to ply Apapa with frequently  so that people won’t even need to take their cars and then we provide buses at  jetties. As you are coming out there is a bus  that takes you up to Airways Busstop, up to Wharf Busstop. Then you find your way from there. And when you come back, there is a bus that takes you to the jetty again and then you board your ferry and go. We are able to do this within the next two, three weeks which I believe is possible. Don’t forget we have the can-do spirit of the Nigeria when it comes to emergency situations like this. And I think the government should treat this as an emergency. We have ‘I can do spirit’. We can achieve it. Probable the Minister did not think of it this way but I think he should take this as an opportunity to put those measures together the way it was done in the aviation sector for the Abuja runway. It should be done here so we get  it right and then we can concentrate on fixing those roads,” he said.

Special Assistant to the National President of Association of National Customs Licensing Agents (ANLCA) on Shipping Companies and Terminal Operators, Mr Ujubuonu Pius, said:

The loss is immeasurable given the image of the country and the wear and tear of the vehicles and the destruction of peoples goods and services. The turnaround time for trucks has been badly affected. The maritime business is currency. The quantity that comes  determines the quantity you are able to deliver. If you clear quickly you are able to receive another and this has been affected. It is the return on turnover that is the eventual profit. So, the loss is immeasurable. In fact, over N6 is lost weekly.